‘You’re on thin ice’: CCG raps ambulance reserve
Cllr on G4S: ‘It’s like Groundhog Day – I can’t see it improving...’
Health chiefs admit patients have been badly let down by a private ambulance service and that there are still significant problems – despite some improvements.
The non-emergency ambulance service is provided by security firm G4S, and its performance since taking on the contract has come under sustained criticism.
Ian Ayres, of the West Kent clinical commissioning group (CCG) which oversees the service, admitted many patients had been let down. “I take that very seriously,” he said.
There were 115 complaints in July. Most were about the time taken to collect and take people for outpatient appointments.
And a recent report said there continued to be unprecedented levels of complaints, and highlighted problems in how G4S handled them.
It said some of the issues stemmed from the contract being offered on the basis of data which did not reflect “the levels of activity... actually required”.
Councillors on a cross-party watchdog committee were unimpressed with the report – The Patient Transfer Service – recently presented to them.
It suggested that many problems with G4S were ongoing and that questions remained over the type of service it could provide.
Cllr Dan Daley said G4S was facing the same issues as the previous contractor, NSL, which was sacked in 2015 for under-performance and stopped operating in the area last year.
Cllr Daley said: “It is Groundhog Day. How many more times are we going to listen to this litany of excuses about how [G4S] did not realise what it was going to have to do? We have been talking about this for years. I cannot see how G4S are going to improve at all.”
Mr Ayres acknowledged the problems with G4S, particularly with booking transport and ambulances not turning up. He added that although G4S had a five-year contract, there were ways in which it could be ended.
West Kent CCG issued a contract performance notice against G4S in July demanding urgent action to improve the complaints process.
The committee was told the contract would be monitored and that there would be a further sixmonth review.
Russell Hobbs, managing director of transport services at G4S, said the firm was committed to delivering a good service. “When it isn’t good enough we always seek to improve,” he said.